


The Boredom of Aomine Daiki

by bob2ff



Series: Satsuki and Dai-chan vs. the World [6]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen, Humor, Male-Female Friendship, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 13:06:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1388755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bob2ff/pseuds/bob2ff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Satsuki goes out of town for three days, Aomine tries to find things to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Aomine's Day Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Set during the summer holidays when [Bonding Sessions](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1332994) and [Aomine’s First Date](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1388719/chapters/2908918) also occurs.
> 
> Written for BPS Challenge 64 (Ensemble).
> 
> _[Retitled because I like the Haruhi Suzumiya tribute: Previously known as Aomine's Boredom.]_

“Okay, bye Dai-chan!” Satsuki said cheerily, waving at him lying on the couch. “I’ll see you in three days!”

“Bye, Satsuki,” Aomine began lazily, then he sat up suddenly. “Wait, what?  _Three days_? Where are you going?”

She whacked him on the head, hard. “Dai-chan! I told you this  _two weeks ago_! I’m going on holiday to the beach with my family!” She peered at him crossly. “You haven’t been listening when I was telling you where my spare key was in case you needed something from my house, or when I told you where my basketball data was on the _off-chance_ you want to look at them, and where the—” He cut her off. “What about me?” he said, blankly.

She glared at him. “What  _about_  you? Surely you can last three days by yourself! I’m sure you’ll just be playing basketball with Kagamin and Tetsu-kun the whole time anyway.”

He continued to look at her blankly. “But — I thought we were going to check out the new releases of basketball shoes. And B-ball Monthly is coming out tomorrow, too.”

Satsuki suddenly smiled sweetly, but as with most of her smiles, there was a sharp edge to it. “Why, Dai-chan, are you going to  _miss me_? How nice! Finally I feel that I am being appreciated! You know—” he cut her off again, deliberately yawning widely. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re so noisy, leave already. Finally, three whole days in peace!” he said, too loudly, lying back on the couch to continue napping.

Satsuki rolled her eyes. Once she had gone far enough, Aomine peeked up from the couch and sighed.

***

“No, Aomine-kun, you can’t borrow Nigou for three days. You’re a bad influence,” Kuroko said flatly. 

“Come on, Tetsu!” Aomine pleaded. “I’m going to be  _so_   _bored_  for three days!”

Kagami sniggered. “What are you, some clingy toddler? Can’t you survive a few days without Momoi to tell you what to do with yourself?”

Aomine glared at him. “ _I’m_  not the one who can’t get into the Zone without needing  _all my friends_ and a whole bunch of other people around.” Kagami glared back. “What did you say??” Aomine just smirked. “You heard me.”

Kuroko just sighed before Kagami could yell back. “Aomine-kun, why don’t you just try hanging out with other people?”

Aomine looked like the idea had never occurred to him before. Then he brightened. “Hey! Do _you guys_  want to come with me to check out the new releases of basketball shoes tomorrow?” 

Kagami just groaned. “Tomorrow’s going to be hell — Coach wants us to go for a  _16-hour_  training session. It’s summer, damnit!”

Aomine scowled. “You guys are lame. Can’t you skip practice and hang out with me?”

Kuroko passed the basketball hard, into Aomine’s gut. As he doubled over wheezing, Kuroko said, “Aomine-kun seems to have trouble receiving passes. Perhaps you should focus on  _your_ basketball practice, instead of trying to get others to skip theirs.”

Kagami doubled over laughing. Aomine just irritatedly chucked the basketball at his head.

***

“Maaaaan, I’m sooooo bored,” Aomine groaned, crashing on the couch. He peered at his phone. Why wasn’t Satsuki texting him?  _She_ used to be the one following him around and bothering him all the time!  _She_  used to be the one who couldn’t get through a day without popping by his house, asking him to do something or another.

He texted her. “Satsuki.” He waited five seconds. No answer. He texted again. “Satsuki.” Still no answer. He sent a last text. “Satsukisatsukisatsukisatsuki…” The text spanned five pages on his phone.

Then he groaned, and planted his face into the couch. He napped.

When he woke up, three hours had passed. He checked his phone. “Dai-chan,  _I told you_  to keep yourself busy! There’s some data on Seirin you can go through if you are bored. Left drawer of my desk.  _Don’t snoop through my stuff_. Go ask Sakurai-kun if you want company! Stop bothering me.” He groaned again. “Satsuki,  _I don’t want homework_. It’s summer, damnit!” Then he waited.

No answer. He chucked his phone away irritatedly.

***

“Hey, Ryou.” Sakurai jumped from where he had been practicing his shooting.

“Aomine-kun! So sorry I didn’t see you there! What are you doing in school during the summer?” Then he backtracked at the grumpy look on Aomine’s face. “So sorry I asked! I didn’t mean to pry! So sorry I’m so nosy! So sorry I…” Aomine cut him off, grabbing the basketball from him. “Ryou, shut up.” He dribbled the ball for a bit, then shot it towards the net. It went in, easily.  

“Satsuki told me you’d be here practicing. There’s some data on Seirin she left me, I’m not so sure how to make sense of it.” His voice was deliberately casual, and he kept shooting, avoiding Sakurai’s eyes. The basketball kept going through the net. “Do you want to crash Seirin’s practice today with me?”

Sakurai stiffened in fear. Momoi-san’s voice echoed in his head. “Dai-chan  _will_  be bored, and he  _will_  go looking for company. ” Her sweet smile, which sharpened. “When he does, it’s  _your responsibility_  to make sure he stays out of trouble while I’m gone, okay?” Then an apologetic smile. “Sorry to trouble you, have a good summer break!”

“U-um,” he started, stuttering. Aomine grabbed him. “Come on Ryou, let’s go!”

***

Kagami was feeling on fire. Despite feeling the onset of fatigue from running laps for three hours that morning, he was feeling  _good_. Maybe today he would master entering the Zone at will! Then maybe Aomine the idiot would  _lay off_.

Suddenly, he heard a splutter. “What are  _they_  doing here? They’re  _the enemy_!” Hyuuga was pointing at of all people,  _that idiot Aomine_. And another boy, who was looking terrified.

Riko glared. “No visitors allowed! This is a  _private_  practice session.” Sakurai started bowing and apologizing. “We’re so sorry to bother! I’m sorry we disturbed you! I’m sorry we…” Aomine shoved him. “ _Shut up_ , Ryou.” Then he turned to them and smirked. “We’re not doing anything wrong — just walking by the area.”

Kuroko stopped his drills and approached him. “Aomine-kun, you’re horrible at lying. And scouting. We know you’re lonely without Momoi-san, but it doesn’t mean you can barge into our practice and disrupt it.”

Aomine spluttered. “I’m not  _lonely_  without Satsuki! Stop talking crap, Tetsu. And I’m  _not_ scouting, what the hell are you going on about? Ryou and I were just…shopping! Yeah, shopping!” He deliberately avoided Kuroko’s gaze while he said this.

Kagami stared. “Shopping,” he said, flatly. “In a high school gym. You  _are_  an idiot, Aomine.” Aomine glared. “Shut up! Managed to get into Zone at will yet?” he challenged, smirking. Kagami lunged towards him.

Just then, Kiyoshi strategically walked between them, and Kagami slammed into him instead. He smiling brightly. “It’s so nice to get visitors once in a while, isn’t it, Hyuuga?” Hyuuga facepalmed. “Just tell us what you want,  _brat_.” He looked at Aomine. “Then  _leave us alone_.”

Aomine suddenly brightened as an idea came to him. “You guys want to come with me to check out the new releases of basketball shoes today?” Koganei suddenly stopped his drills and joined the conversation. “What! For which brands?” Aomine started listing them out. “And1, Nike, Puma, most of the new lines are out today!”

Kagami was interested despite himself. “What about the new Adidas? I heard that line was delayed.” Hyuuga joined in. “No, there were some problems but they sorted it out. I think it’s out today!”

Izuki called excitedly from all the way across the gym. “Adidas has mastered the  _feet_ of making great basketball shoes. I would sell my  _sole_ for those! And spend all my money to  _boot_.” He looked proud of himself.

Riko jumped in excitedly with a “That new Adidas line is supposed to be  _great_ with ankle support and jump action!”

Then she suddenly caught herself. She slammed all of them on the head. “Wait a minute—  _we are having practice right now_ , idiots! Get back to training!”

Aomine clutched his head in pain. Before he left to continue his drills, Kuroko looked at him. “Aomine-kun, you were supposed to scout. You obviously failed— we all knew what you were doing.” Then he sighed. “Let’s go later today, after practice.”

Kagami called, “Yeah, and don’t steal all my sizes, okay idiot? It’s  _hard_  to buy  _any_  kind of clothing here.”

As Aomine left, he heard Kuroko tell Kagami, “Kagami-kun, don’t blame Japan — you’re just a freak of nature.”

***

When Aomine got back later that day (with three new pairs of shoes for his collection), he had a message waiting on his phone.

“Dai-chan, how was your day today~? I’m sure it went well! I know you’ll end up buying new shoes today, so I already bought new socks for you in advance! Third drawer of your dresser. Also, Kaijo’s data is under Seirin’s if you want to look through them tomorrow. Kanagawa is an hour and a half from Tokyo by train — schedule and routes are in the same folder!  _Don’t snoop through my other stuff_ , okay? Good night~!”

Aomine smiled despite himself. He began to text her back. “Stop giving me  _homework_ , damnit! And too late, no use hiding it. I saw your ‘drawing’ of Tetsu — I didn’t know Tetsu looked like a frog. Want to hear about my new shoes?”

This time, her answer came right on time.


	2. Aomine's Directionless Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine goes to find some direction on his second day alone.

When Aomine woke up the next day, he knew exactly where he would go today.

He’d show everyone, especially that jerk Tetsu, who  _still_  thought he was lonely without Satsuki, and that idiot Kagami, who had called him a _whiny kid,_  that he could spend his second day alone without Satsuki.

He was going to grab Sakurai, then scout Kaijo. Perhaps he might be able to get a one-on-one with Kise while he was at it. Then the day wouldn’t be a  _total_  waste of time.

***  
Sakurai was terrified. “We’re going all the way to  _Kanagawa_?” he asked tentatively.

Aomine frowned. “Of course! Satsuki said she needed help scouting Kaijo while she’s away, so we’re going to do it. I’m good at watching the basketball stuff, but I hate writing stuff down. It’ll be  _your_  job to write stuff and make sure Satsuki understands our data. Got it?”

The memory rose in Sakurai’s head. “Sakurai-kun, we all know Dai-chan is  _horrible_  at scouting. Sure he’s great at basketball analysis, but he can’t lie to save his life. But! He needs to  _think_  that he’s doing scouting. Otherwise he  _will_  be bored. And he  _will_  cause trouble,” Momoi told him as she passed him a stack of handouts, all beautifully made for him with titles like ‘Dai-chan’s favourite foods’ and ‘Times when Dai-chan is grumpiest’, made from memory, the substantial repository of Momoi’s expertise of Aomine. “With these you should do fine supervising Dai-chan! Good luck!”

Sakurai just slumped, resigned. “I think the next train is in half an hour.”

Aomine grinned widely and slapped him on the back, hard. “Cheer up, we’re going on an adventure! It’s going to be  _great_!”

***

“Oha Asa did say today would bring ‘unexpected trials’,” Midorima sniffed imperiously as he looked at Aomine, clutching a magazine carefully in his left hand.

Aomine just rolled his eyes. “What the hell are you doing here, you weirdo? This is  _our_  adventure to Kanagawa. You’re not allowed to come.” Sakurai looked apologetic. “Sorry to bother you…” he said in a small voice.

Midorima looked surprised. “You’re visiting Kise? Why?” His companion was watching Aomine and Sakurai like a hawk. He wore a hidden smile.

Aomine smirked. “Wouldn’t  _you_  like to know.”

Midorima glared. “I have better things to do than to waste my time talking to imbeciles.” He turned away, willfully ignoring Aomine. Aomine smirked cheekily and grabbed the magazine in his hand.

“What, Midorima reading  _idol_  magazines! I never knew you  _had_  it in you! Maybe you’re not so uptight after all. Who’s your favourite idol?  _My_  favourite is—” Midorima cut him off as he grabbed the magazine back.

He snapped, “ _Give that back to me_ — it’s my lucky item for the day. And this train station is my lucky place for the day. It appears that even with all my preparations, Cancer being last place has still cursed me with your presence.” Midorima looked around. “Where is Momoi? It’s about time she dragged you away.”

Aomine just rolled his eyes. “She’s away on holiday. You’re  _still_  on that Oha Asa thing? Hey, what does it say about me today? I’m a Virgo!”

Midorima nodded knowingly. “Momoi is away? That explains a lot. You look lost. And more restless and irritating than usual.” He pushed his glasses up. “Your lucky item for today is an avocado. Please go get one and get out of my sight.”

Aomine glared. “I am not  _lost_. I know exactly where I am going— Kanagawa!  _You’re_  the one hanging around a train station for no good reason!”

While they were too busy sniping at each other to notice, Takao slung an arm around Sakurai. “Sooo, what is it like babysitting  _your_  member of the Generation of Miracles?”

Sakurai peered fearfully at Aomine to make sure he could not overhear anything. Then he shook his head, and released a deep sigh.

Takao nodded. “Yup, sounds about right.”

***

Aomine was bored. He was so bored, he wasn’t even in the mood to read his gravure magazines. Why was this train taking  _so long_? He reached out and poked Sakurai, who was reading a light novel.

“Ryou. Let me eat my bento now.” Sakurai jumped. “Er, but Aomine-kun, the bento is for dinner…and didn’t you just eat lunch?”

Aomine groaned. “ _Fine_.” Then he straightened up. “I’ll call Satsuki, see how’s she doing.” Before Sakurai could stop him, he had dialed her number. He frowned. “Hm, she’s not answering.” He texted her, smirking as he read it aloud. “Satsuki. Tetsu mentioned you yesterday.” Almost immediately, the phone rang.

“You’re so predictable, Satsuki,” he said as he answered the phone. She was so shrill and loud Sakurai could hear every word. “Dai-chan— what did Tetsu-kun say about me? Tell me!”

He ignored her question. “Satsuki, let’s play NBA Trivia True or False! Last time I nearly won — I bet I can win if we played with the rule that you  _can’t_  quote data.”

“…Dai-chan, you called me just to ask me  _that_? Play with Sakurai-kun!” Aomine started protesting, but then she hung up.

He sighed, and looked at Sakurai. “Ryou. Want to play—” “Lebron James writes and eats left-handed but shoots with his right hand,” Sakurai interrupted him, a challenge in his voice despite the trailing “Sorry for interrupting…”

Aomine smirked challengingly. “That’s True…you’re on.”

***

Finally, they were at Kaijo, despite nearly missing the Kanagawa stop due to a heated argument about Kobe Bryant’s shoe size. Aomine barged straight into the gym, yelling, “Kise! Where are you! Let’s play a one-on-one!”

The entire Kaijo basketball team stopped and stared at him. Then one of them yelled excitedly. “Aominechii~! You came to visit!”

As Kise came running up to him, Aomine shoved a hand on his face before he could hug him. Kaijo’s ex-captain approached them and kicked Kise. “What’s going on here? Kise, get back to training!”

"So sorry for the trouble!" Sakurai said, bowing. Aomine just crossed his arms and stared Kasamatsu down. "We’re going to be watching you practice today. Show us your best moves!"

Kasamatsu rolled his eyes. “Sure, we’re going to show you  _all_  our moves so you can beat us next tournament. I may not be captain anymore, but I’m not stupid, you know. You’re obviously scouting.”

Aomine glared at him. “We’re  _not_  scouting. How would you know anyway?  _You’re_  not even supposed to be here.” At that Kise slung an arm around Kasamatsu. “All our senpai are always welcome to visit us! They are helping us with the holiday training to get the new first-years up to par. Our precious senpai!”

Kasamatsu flung Kise’s arm off. “Didn’t I say get back to training?” Then he turned to Aomine. “If you’re going to hang around here directionless, make yourself useful. Go and bring the refreshments and towels from the locker room to the gym.”

Sakurai made to agree, but Aomine stood his ground. “We’re not  _managers_! We’re just here on a holiday, and I decided to visit Kise for a one-on-one! Nothing wrong with that.”

Before Kasamatsu could reply, Moriyama went up to him. “Where is your beautiful friend? She would be a welcome presence here, a refreshing breeze and a flower among thorns on this otherwise dull, dreary day.”

Aomine looked blankly at him. “Who, Satsuki?” he said. “She’s away on holiday.”

Kise bounced in, “Momoichii’s away? Oh no, you must feel  _lost_ , Aominechii! No wonder you came all the way to Kanagawa for company!”

They all jumped as Hayakawa suddenly screamed “I knew it! Your scout is away, so  _you guys_  are here to steal all our secret strategies!”

Aomine opened his mouth to protest, but then Kasamatsu suddenly yelled. “Okay, that’s enough! Kise and Hayakawa, get back to training. Moriyama, get back to supervising drills. And  _you_ , brat,” he said, glaring at Aomine. “If you help us out with this training session, you can go for a one-on-one with Kise later.”

Aomine glared back at him. Then he said, “Make it a two-on-three — Ryou and I versus you, Kise and whichever Kaijo player you want, and you have a deal.” He smirked. “I’m sure the two of us can take the three of you pretty easily.”

Kasamatsu rolled his eyes. Then he whacked Aomine upside the head (Sakurai gave a high-pitched gasp of horror). “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Aomine looked stunned as Kasamatsu continued. “Generation of Miracles member or not, a fair game is a fair game. Why don’t  _I_  join your team, and we three will go against Kise, Moriyama and Hayakawa.”

Aomine remained stunned, then his face cleared. He nodded. “What do you need us to do now?”

***  
Aomine went back home later that day to yet another message from Satsuki on his phone.

“Dai-chan~! Make sure you stretch your legs well — I’m sure you had another intense match with Ki-chan! I hope you said hi to Kasamatsu-senpai and the others from me. Shaquille O’Neal ranks third in all-time field goal percentage, 58.2%.”

Aomine just rolled his eyes and texted her back. “That’s True. Nice try, B-ball Monthly just came out yesterday, I know my stats. Kise’s still an idiot, if you want to know. He tried to get us to take photos in those stupid cutesy photo booths. And his senpai Moriyama must be crazy, he thinks you’re hot. Keeps bugging me to introduce you to him. Lebron James went to high school at Saint Vincent-Saint Mary in Akron, Ohio.”

Her reply came immediately. And Aomine knew exactly where to go from there.


	3. Aomine's Day of Leadership

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine discovers his own version of leadership on his third day alone.

This time, when Aomine came over to drag Sakurai to wherever he wanted to go to relieve his boredom, Sakurai was ready. 

"I have to help Wakamatsu-senpai train the incoming players for the holiday training session," he said, apologetically. Sorry, Momoi-san, he silently thought. Aomine-kun was fun when he wanted to be, but most of the time he was  _exhausting_ , like entertaining a hyperactive child.

Aomine looked blankly at him. “But— we were going to crash Shuutoku’s practice,” he said. “We still need to scout them.”

Sakurai secretly thought that what they had done the past two days was distinctly not scouting— more like crashing different teams’ practice and demanding they play with Aomine.

"So sorry…you know how Wakamatsu-senpai gets," Sakurai said, bowing.

Aomine suddenly brightened. “I’ll come with you! I’ll show the new players what they should aspire to be.” Ignoring Sakurai’s protests, he slung an arm around him.

Sakurai sighed. Wakamatsu-senpai was going to be unpleasantly surprised.

***

"What the hell are you doing here?" Wakamatsu demanded.

Imayoshi raised his eyebrows. “Wow, we missed out on this new version of Aomine, Susa. It seems that Aomine finally cares about the team,” he said, smirking. “The more I see this new version, the more I don’t feel like leaving the team.” Susa just nodded in agreement.

Aomine glared. “Shut up! Why are you even here anyway, don’t you have better things to do as a graduating senior?”

Imayoshi just smiled, the way he always did that made Aomine want to punch him in the face. “That’s more like the Aomine I know — loving and respectful to his upperclassmen as always.”

Wakamatsu rapped Aomine on the head. “Are you just here to bother us? We’re all here to train the new players.” Aomine smirked. “ _I’m_  here to show them how the  _best_  player plays basketball around here.”

Wakamatsu prepared to launch a tirade, but then Imayoshi stopped him. “This could be amusing. Alright, Aomine, you can be in charge of supervising those players practicing layups over there. Sakurai, supervise those players practicing free throws.”

Aomine stomped over to where the players were practicing layups. He would show them! No one believed he would be a good teacher, or even a good leader. He would be a better captain than that idiot Wakamatsu could ever be!

At first, he was at a loss. He had never done anything like this before. He started racking his brains for what captains  _did_. Nijimura came to his mind.

As a new prospect fumbled the layup, he walked over and flicked him in the forehead, the way Nijimura always used to do to  _him_. “What the hell was that?” he demanded. “Do you even  _know_ how a layup is done?”

The boy looked terrified. Aomine wildly backtracked at the expression on his face. Geez, he didn’t mean to scare him  _that_  badly. Perhaps he looked too thuggish to pull off that whole ‘big brother’ vibe Nijimura seemed to emanate. After all, no matter how many times Nijimura whacked them or flicked them on the forehead, Teikou players were never  _terrified_  of him.

“Er…” he looked around, lost. His gaze landed on Sakurai, who was guiding a player towards a perfect free throw with the characteristic gentleness that Sakurai always had. Maybe that was the key — a more gentle touch, perhaps?

He patted the boy on the head, awkwardly. “Sorry for yelling,” he muttered. “Er, maybe try jumping at the right time? You look idiotic when you don’t get the timing right…” he trailed off as the boy looked even more terrified, if that were possible, at his awkward attempt to be gentle with an insult.

He racked his mind for any good teacher he knew. Maybe the Akashi approach would work better? He looked at the boy imperiously, which from his height was quite easily done. Somehow, even when Akashi was shorter than all of them, he had managed to peer down at them like they all were beneath him. Aomine could very easily do that now, especially since he had five inches on the boy.

“I expected better from a prospect of Touou’s regulars,” he said, schooling his voice into the calm even tones of Akashi. The boy shrunk even further.

Aomine had enough. “Look, what the hell is your problem?” he demanded. “I’m trying to help you here!” He had tried the Nijimura approach, the Sakurai approach, and even the Akashi approach. This kid didn’t seem to get any of them.

At this point, Wakamatsu had found it too painful to watch. “Aomine, what the hell is wrong with you? It’s like you have multiple personalities or something.”

Aomine just glared. “It’s not my fault this guy just can’t  _get_  it! I’m trying to teach him here!”

Wakamatsu rolled his eyes. “Maybe  _you’re_  the problem, not this guy.” Imayoshi came by just then. “Wow, Aomine, that was worse than I thought,” he said, smiling all the way.

Aomine this time was prepared to punch him, but then Imayoshi said, “Why don’t you start  _smaller_ — literally. There are some elementary school basketball players here that are visiting Touou to see how basketball is played at high school level. Surely you can handle 10-year-old boys?” Asked as a challenge, there was  _no way_  Aomine would back down.

He glared at both of them. “I’m the best player Touou has around here. I’m sure they’ll get better after they learn from  _me_.”

He stomped off. Wakamatsu, staring after him, just said, “I don’t know who to feel more sorry for — the kids, or Aomine.”

***

“Satsuki, you gotta help me out here,” Aomine said urgently into his phone.

“Dai-chan, I was  _just_  about to doze off here on the beach. This  _better_  be worth bothering me during my holiday,” Momoi said.

Aomine said, “I’ll buy you a meal next time we go out.”

He could hear her intentional demur. Damnit, he  _hated_  bargaining with Satsuki. She knew him way too well for him to come out of this with a good deal. “ _Hmmm_ …. B-ball Monthly is coming out next month…”

Aomine gritted out, “I’ll buy you next month’s issue of B-ball Monthly as well. Damn, Satsuki, it’s expensive, you know that!”

He heard her sharp smile without needing to see her. “In addition to all that, let me join you next time you hang out with Tetsu-kun and you have a deal.”

Aomine groaned. “ _Fine_. Now tell me — what’s the best way to teach a bunch of brats that basketball is the  _best game_  in the entire world and they should play it for the rest of their lives?”

He became irritated as she started giggling. “That’s kind of an ambitious goal, but you know what Dai-chan?  _You_  were an idiotic 10-year-old boy once. How did  _you_  start thinking basketball was the best game in the world? And don’t think about Nijimura-senpai, or Akashi-kun, or Imayoshi-senpai, or any of the captains you know. Just try being yourself.”

Aomine frowned. “What the hell kind of advice is that?  _Just be myself_  is full of crap.”

He heard her smile. “Just try it, Dai-chan. Bye!”

He frowned at the phone. “…damnit, Satsuki. You just ripped me off.”

***

“ _You_  are Aomine Daiki, Touou’s ace?” one  _obnoxious_  kid had the guts to wrinkle his nose, looking at Aomine.

Aomine stared down at him, arms crossed, showing the full length of his imposing height. “Yes. Got a problem with that?”

The kid suddenly smiled, cheekily. “It depends. One-on-one?”

Aomine laughed outright, derisively. “No. If it were me against all twenty of you brats, then  _maybe_ I would be  _somewhat_  entertained.”

All twenty of them perked up. The kid smirked. “You’re on.”

***

Aomine was  _exhausted_. And no, it wasn’t because of the basketball.  _Of course_  he won — there was never any doubt.

It was  _the kids_. “Hey, hey, can you show us your formless shot again?” one kid said, eagerly hanging onto Aomine’s arm. Aomine shook him off. “That’s the  _12th_  time you’ve asked me, brat.”

“It’s just  _so cool_!” The boy said. “What about a dunk, then?” Another one said, trying his utmost best to jump onto Aomine’s back. As Aomine was about a foot and a half taller, he wasn’t being very successful.

“ _No_ , kid. Look, you’ve all seen what you’ve come to see. Basketball’s cool when you actually play with someone good, right?” Aomine said to them.

“No, basketball’s cool when you win all the time!” One kid declared. Aomine stiffened as he heard him.

He looked down at all of them solemnly. Their faces were all eagerly turned upwards towards him, listening raptly. “No, brats. Basketball’s not  _that_  cool when you win all the time.  _But_ , if you find someone worth playing against, and you  _work hard_  for the win,  _then_  it’s fun.”

They were silent as they absorbed his words. Then one of them shouted, “Basketball’s  _also_  cool when you can have fun doing all those cool moves!”

“And basketball’s just fun because you get to hang out with everyone and play together!” another one declared.

Aomine just smiled. “You gotta work hard at it before it becomes worth it,” he said. “But yup, I guess basketball’s cool because of all those other reasons, too.”

***

“Sakurai can be captain. There is  _no way_  I am ever doing this again,” Aomine declared to Wakamatsu as he left.

“Well, it was too much to expect of Aomine to suddenly discover amazing leadership abilities, after all,” Imayoshi said, as they watched him leave, the congregation of kids all yelling for his attention like chicks around a mother hen.

Wakamatsu peered at Imayoshi keenly. “You just wanted him to suffer taking care of all those kids, didn’t you?”

Imayoshi just smirked. “I just wanted him to feel what it’s like babysitting a brat on your team. One Aomine is the equivalent of all twenty of those 10-year-olds, after all.”

Wakamatsu just stared. “You’re scary,” he said, shaking his head.

***

Later that day, Aomine texted Momoi.

“Oi, when are you getting back tomorrow? There are some data and basketball strategies I want to run over. Touou needs to be in good position to win all our tournaments next year,” he said.

Then he smiled, and added, “So why do _you_ find basketball cool?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write something exploring Aomine and Momoi’s friendship, but more about how others perceive it, and especially how it would be like if they were apart. They are together all the time in the manga and anime, after all. …it’s also fun writing Aomine in comedic situations, haha. Hope you liked it!


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